The disclosure relates generally to formation of a sintered inorganic or ceramic material, and specifically to systems and processes for sintering inorganic material in a non-contact environment as well as the sintered articles, such as ceramic sheets or tapes, made from such systems and processes.
Articles, such as thin sheets, tapes, or ribbons of ceramic have many potential uses, such as serving as waveguides, when the ceramic is transmissive to light, serving as substrates that may be coated or laminated, and integrated in batteries and other components, or other applications. Such articles are typically manufactured by forming large ingots of the sintered material, cutting wafers, slabs or plates of the material, and polishing the corresponding articles to a desired form and surface quality. Polishing helps to remove flaws or defects on the surfaces of the articles, but is time and resource intensive. Such articles may also be manufactured by tape casting, gel casting, or other processes that include sintering of green tapes, such as strips of inorganic grains bound in an organic binder. In such conventional processes, the green tapes are typically placed upon a surface, called a setter board, and placed inside a furnace that burns off the organic binder and sinters the inorganic grains. The setter board is typically formed from a refractory material that can withstand the sintering process, namely it does not react with or bond to the article that is being fired. The setter board supports the tape when the binder is removed, and at least one surface of the remaining inorganic material is in contact with the setter board during sintering.